Strong quake jolts Peru

In all the jubilation last night following the capture of the 19 year terrorism suspect, virtually everyone missed news that a massive 7.0 magnitude quake according to the China Earthquake Administration (and 6.6 according to the USGS including countless aftershocks) hit China's Sichuan province, leaving at least 156 dead and over 2200 injured according to the latest estimate from Xinhua.

BEIJING — A powerful earthquake struck the steep hills of China’s southwestern Sichuan province on Saturday, leaving at least 156 people dead and more than 5,500 injured, nearly five years after a devastating quake wreaked widespread damage across the region.

A strong earthquake hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Monday, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage.The shallow quake hit at a depth of nine kilometres (five miles) at 2307 GMT around 75 kilometres southeast of the nearest main city of Kendari, the US Geological Survey said, putting the size of the tremor at magnitude 6.2.Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency measured the quake at magnitude 6.0 and said it hit about 55 kilometres southeast of Kendari at a depth of 18 kilometres.

A strong 7.1-magnitude earthquake rocked Ecuador and parts of Peru Thursday, but its epicenter was deep underground in a remote Amazonian region and only one injury and light damage was reported.The quake, which experts from the US Geological Survey said hit at 6:54 am (1154 GMT), 110 miles (175 kilometers) southeast of Quito, lasted for about 40 seconds and was felt around the country and in neighboring Peru.One person in a southwestern fishing port was injured by a crumbling wall, Ecuador Red Cross spokesman Jorge Arteaga told AFP.

A strong earthquake centered in the southern state of Oaxaca shook Mexico early Wednesday, the US and Mexican earthquake monitors reported.The quake, which struck at 2:22 am (0722 GMT), lasted around half a minute and was powerful enough to shake buildings in Mexico City, AFP correspondents reported.Both Mexico's Seismological Institute and the US Geological Survey said the quake measured 6.5 on the moment magnitude scale, though the USGS later revised down the quake's strength to magnitude 6.2.

A powerful earthquake jolted China’s Sichuan province Saturday near where a devastating quake struck five years ago, killing at least 70 people and leaving more than 2,000 hurt, prompting worries the death toll will climb.

A strong earthquake of magnitude 5.8 hit central Japan on Saturday morning, according to the US Geological Survey.The quake, which shook buildings in Tokyo, struck at 11:19 am (0219 GMT), 83 kilometres (52 miles) north of the capital and at a depth of 20 kilometres, the USGS said.Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said the tremor did not disrupt the emergency crews who are working around the clock to cool crippled reactors at a nuclear plant hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami last month.

A powerful earthquake rocked southern Iran on Monday, Iranian and US seismologists said, but there was no immediate word on any casualties or damage.The Tehran University Geophysics Department measured the quake at 6.1 on the Richter scale, state television reported. The US Geological Survey put it at 5.7.The quake hit the town of Konar Takhteh in Fars province at 2:52 pm (1122 GMT) and was felt 175 kilometres (110 miles) away in the provincial capital Shiraz, state television and Iranian news agencies said.